Ah, Our Dearest #MissionStreetProject. This house brought us so much joy over the years. We started our Hearth Homes adventure with a house that had been in the family since 2012. We kind of felt like we grew up there-- all of the kids in the family and our friends having lived or hung out there for years-- so needless to say, it was one that we held very close to our hearts, and we knew we had to treat it as such.
It started as a good house with great bones and obvious appeal...Five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and tons of room for activities, but we all saw the crazy potential that it just was not living up to. So, we created a vision. And with that vision, we were able to turn it into an insanely awesome house that none of us wanted to give up…ever. When it got multiple offers above asking after just one day on the market, we admittedly had some mixed feelings…On the one hand, we were ecstatic ‘cause YAAASSS people loved our first big project! And on the other hand, we were so sad to let it go because of all the memories we shared there.
For the purposes of this post (and to avoid blogging you to sleep), we're going to stick to the kitchen transformation this week. But, not to worry, more fun stuff to come next week!
To put it nicely, the old Mission St. Kitchen was uninviting. It was dark. Being in there just kind of made you feel sad. But, since we were on a tight budget-- Ugh, the 'B' word--- we had to rule out an entire kitchen remodel. Thankfully, there was really no point in gutting the whole thing. All the cabinets were in great shape, the appliances were modern, but the kitchen just screamed “maybe you should order takeout instead” all day, every day.
So, we saved the cabinets and their hardware and just freshened them up with a coat of Benjamin Moore ‘Simply White’ paint-- one of our absolute faves! We knew that the cabinets could be updated with a simple paint fix, but there was no hope for the brown quartz countertops. We sent those straight to the dumpster, and went with a beautiful white Carrera Marble with bold grey veining. For the backsplash, we chose an organic 12-inch subway tile with an arabesque accent tile behind the stove, which added the perfect touch of character.
Before this kitchen face-lift, nobody (and I mean nobody) ever ate at the breakfast bar. It was more of a collector of things rather than a place to eat. We knew we needed to warm it up and make it a nice, inviting space where a family could actually see themselves eating together. So, we used a butcher-block countertop as the surface there. To us, this was the decision that made the whole darn kitchen come together.
For the floors, we went with a warm, creamy super durable porcelain stone tile, laid in a herringbone pattern. We went back and forth trying to decide “To herringbone? Or not to herringbone?” It was a big deal because the added labor was going to eat up a lot of our budget. But in the end, we went for it because we knew it just wouldn’t be the same without it. And can we just say…it was 100% worth it. Everybody who walked through the house LOVED those kitchen floors. And finally, we changed out the light fixtures above the breakfast bar. We liked the idea of these lantern pendants because they made a statement without totally taking over the room.
The kitchen started as a dark, drab, totally uninviting space where nobody ever wanted to hang out. With a little imagination, teamwork, and some elbow grease, we were able to transform it into a warm, welcoming, and truly beautiful room. We just wanted to sit, and cook, and drink wine in there all the time. Mission accomplished!
Stay tuned for the master bath reno next week!